How 58 Home Services Transforms Household Care with Service Design and Digital Touchpoints

Introduction

When the internet merges with traditional industries, people often think of giants like Taobao or Didi, but online home‑service platforms receive far less attention despite their importance for employment, poverty alleviation, and livelihood security. In China, the home‑service sector has grown quickly yet suffers from insufficient supply, unstandardized development, and low customer satisfaction.

Why Digital Service Design Matters

Traditional home‑service matching is inefficient, lacking the high‑speed connection that the internet excels at. By digitizing transactions, reducing barriers, and enhancing operational efficiency, platforms can deliver professional, convenient, and trustworthy services. 58到家 (58 Home) exemplifies this approach, offering a standardized, high‑efficiency connection between users and service providers.

Online and Offline Service Scenarios

Similar to Meituan’s food delivery or Luckin Coffee’s new‑retail model, home‑service combines online matching with offline standardized delivery. Designers must consider both digital touchpoints and physical service experiences.

Case Study: 58到家 Family Services

The platform operates two main models:

Lead mode : Users fill a simple online form; offline brokers follow up, sign contracts, and complete the service.

Direct hiring mode : Users select a caregiver online, schedule an interview, and achieve rapid matching.

Lead‑Mode Workflow

Typical steps for hiring a nanny include: entering the lead page, providing address and phone, broker follow‑up, signing, and service completion. The critical stage is “broker follow‑up,” which bridges online and offline interactions.

Research Insights

A research team visited stores, interviewed users, brokers, and brand representatives, uncovering three key insights:

Stores lack visible brand touchpoints; brokers often convey brand information verbally.

After submitting a lead, brokers contact users via WeChat and send caregiver résumés.

To increase lead volume, merchants host user‑caregiver meet‑ups.

Co‑Creation and Feasibility

Using these insights, the team held brainstorming sessions, mapped user‑experience flows, and iterated standard operating procedures. Guided by the “co‑creation principle,” market, product, and design teams collaborated to analyze behaviors, expectations, pain points, and opportunities, producing actionable concepts.

Touchpoint Mapping

Physical brand touchpoints in a service store include:

Reception area: brand brochures or flyers.

Waiting area: informational materials.

Broker consultation: protective cards explaining brand guarantees.

Signing area.

Online communication after lead submission primarily occurs via phone and WeChat, raising the question of additional brand touchpoints. Text messages lack formality, while detailed pages are overly lengthy.

Designing a Broker‑Customer Communication Tool

The proposed tool should be:

Scenario‑based : cover main processes and auxiliary scenarios such as daily user maintenance and social sharing.

Tool‑oriented : transform information into efficient, reusable assets.

Digital : include electronic business cards and other digital artifacts.

Additional Touchpoints

Meet‑up events between users and caregivers create conversion opportunities. The online‑offline journey includes:

Reach (social media posters) → Store entry (banners) → Communication (materials, cups, water) → Exit (bags, envelopes).

Caregiver Recruitment and Training

Recruitment reports boost caregiver morale and attract talent via social sharing. Training programs, from enrollment to on‑site learning and placement, are also mapped to ensure high‑quality service delivery.

Implementation Challenges

Initial attempts to share design assets via cloud storage and usage guidelines proved cumbersome. By leveraging internal tools, merchants can edit information, generate images, and download materials with a single click, greatly improving efficiency.

Service‑Design Principles Highlighted

1. Customization over standardization : Design should be client‑centric, offering personalized solutions.

2. Cross‑disciplinary co‑creation : Involve diverse experts to generate richer ideas.

3. Credible, innovative solutions : Identify real needs and propose standout concepts, such as a streamlined interview room for direct hiring.

4. Comprehensive process : Include research, insights, journey mapping, blueprints, impact analysis, and detailed role considerations.

Service‑Design Methods

Techniques include journey mapping, cultural research, diary studies, interviews, brainstorming, visual aids, co‑creation, prototyping, persona analysis, service blueprints, role‑playing, storyboarding, and more—selecting the most suitable methods based on evidence.

In summary, applying service‑design thinking enables a holistic view of the home‑service ecosystem, revealing improvement opportunities across digital and physical touchpoints, and ultimately delivering a superior user experience.